Chengdu is a huge sprawling and ugly city, one of the most polluted in China.  So why would anyone go there.   The most common answers are to see the giant pandas, as adorable on second viewing as in 2000 and to get a permit to travel to Tibet.   Permits are the subject of much angst for travellers​, sometimes they are freely available, sometimes not, sometimes the authorities ask to see them sometimes not.  Fortunately we got ours and they were checked twice at the airport before departure to Lhasa

                                                                      Dancing Girls
On our final day we stumbled upon what we assumed was a dance competition.  All the seats were taken and as the only Westerners present could hardly expect to go unnoticed.  We crept down the center aisle and crouched on the ground to take photos.  Within minutes we had been ushered into the best seats amongst the judges and were feeling just a bit out of place

As these elegant ladies completed their routine, we were led from our prize seats and ushered around a corner.  Where a barrage of press photographers were waiting to take this!

We passed our cameras to them and this is the resulting photo.  I felt like one of the seven dwarfs with these gorgeous pom-pomed creatures towering over us

When we were returned to our seats it was to find this quasi military group performing 

We hardly recognized her minus her gown and pom-pom as she said goodbye and headed home on her scooter 

What an amazing day, nobody could speak a word to us or we to them but the goodwill was unmistakable